Sunday, August 5, 2012

And After Tisha B’AV

This year
the ninth of Av fell out on Shabbat. That meant that we did not fast and mourn
for the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples, and countless other
tragedies, as we do every year. Instead we celebrated Shabbat with song,
prayer, and joyful meals. The fast and mourning were pushed off until Shabbat
ended. Therefore we had a taste of what the Ninth of Av of the future will be
like, the Ninth of Av after the Moshiach has come and the Third Holy
Temple will be rebuilt. Then, no matter what day the ninth of Av is, there will
be no mourning and fasting. Rather it will be a holiday.

Conscious of
that we made our Shabbat meals very special. Several of our sons were at the
table and they always enjoy singing. There was one song in particular that
seemed appropriate. Avraham Fried has taken several verses from the Yom Kippur
prayers and set them to a stirring melody.

For You
have done so much goodness for me,

You have
increased Your kindness upon me.

How can I
repay you? Everything is Yours.

Yours is
the heaven, even the earth is Yours.

We are
Your people, Your people and Your flock

Who
desire to do Your will.

That song
never fails to touch my heartstrings. Not because of the words, which are
beautiful. Rather because of the story my daughter-in-law told me. The story
took place over a year ago. Four-year-old Elad loved this song and he “taught”
it to the children in his nursery school. So, the Sunday after he had been
murdered by Arab terrorists , the Sunday after that horrible Shabbat when his sister returned home
to find him, his brother, his baby sister, and his parents murdered in their
beds, the Sunday when the staff of social workers and psychologists came to
Itamar to help everyone with their grief, on that Sunday Elad’s nursery school
teacher took the children’s hands. She sang and danced with her charges to the
song that Elad had loved. Whenever I hear that song I think of Elad and the
senseless hate in the world.

We are
taught that one of the saddest things about Tisha B’Av is that we have no idea
what we are mourning.We never saw the
Holy Temple is its splendor. We never heard the Kohen Gadol announce
HaShem’s name in the Yom Kippur service. We never smelled the unique smell of
the incense. We never tasted the taste of a holy sacrifice. We never felt the
special stones in the Courtyard of the Holy Temple. No, we have no idea the
extent of what we are missing.

However, we
all know that we are missing a closeness to HaShem that we have not had since
the Holy Temple was destroyed. A closeness that protected us. A closeness that
meant no Jewish baby would ever be murdered in the middle of the night.

And now
Tisha B’Av is behind us. The days of mourning are over. Schools are on break
and many families are on vacation. Still, the Holy Temple was not rebuilt.The Moshiach did not come. We have not
yet merited redemption. What can we do to make Tisha B’Av a holiday next year?

The answer
is in the song.We are Your people,
Your people and Your flock who desire to do Your will.

Let’s learn.
Let’s practice. Let’s love one another. We have fifty-one weeks to get ready. Fifty-one
weeks to do HaShem’s will. Let this be the year that we will change Tisha B’Av
into a day of joy.

Moshiach: Messiah

Kohen
Gadol: Head Cohen

For more about the Fogel murders read these earlier articles:

Thoughts on the Horror in Itamar, April 2011Another Look at Terror, April 2011How Do I Mourn on Tisha B'Av, July 2011They Murder, We Build, December, 2011

Aim of Blog

Emunah, faith in God, does not mean believing only good things will happen; it means believing that whatever God does is for the best. I wrote these words at a time when drive-by shootings and suicide bombers had become almost weekly, if not daily, tragedies. Now, more than ten years later, the words are no less true. Whatever HaShem does is for the best. It is my hope to post articles, advice, and homey stories everyweekwhich will reinforce this fact. And now, a special thanks to:

Batya Medad, my neighbor and experienced blogger. Without her I would never have been able to set up

About Me

Born in Wichita, Kansas, I became a Baalat Teshuva, newly religious, in Phoenix, Arizona while attending ASU. After twelve years of marriage my husband and I made Aliyah with five children and settled in Shilo in the heart of Israel. Two more children joined the family as have daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, Baruch HaShem. My favorite past times are learning, sewing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, enjoying my family and friends, and, of course, writing. My first novel, Sondra’s Search, was published in 2007 and I am working on the sequel.